Monday July 16th (TV3 videos)

Watch the full media conference with the management of the South African Springboks following the test against the All Blacks at Jade Stadium.

It is in this video that Sprinbok captain Johann Muller accuses referees of favouring Ritchie McCaw.

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Rugby: Full All Black press conference after Springbok test

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 02:07p.m.

Watch the full press conference with the All Blacks captain Ritchie McCaw, coach Graham Henry, backs coach Wayne Smith and forwards coach Steve Hanson following the test against the Springboks at Jade Stadium.

In this week's update, a historical look back at the last five tournaments, match venues and next week's All Black selections.

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Rugby: McCaw takes flak after Bok match

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 06:41p.m.

The performance of All Black skipper Ritchie McCaw is once again under the spotlight following last night’s 33 – 6 win over the Springboks. McCaw – who is regarded as the game’s best number seven – says he is only doing his job. But his South African counterpart says he is getting preferential treatment from the referees. After a fumbling start it was the All Black replacements that were the stars of the show at Jade Stadium last night. Brendon Leonard and Nick Evans both scoring tries off the bench while Joe Rokocoko – who was not even supposed to play – pulled off the pass of the match.

The All Blacks remain confident they are on track to beat the Wallabies this weekend despite the muddling nature of their 33-6 win over South Africa on Saturday night. Forced 50-50 passes and dropped balls were the order of the night at Jade Stadium, but the players hope to overcome those problems against the Wallabies by being more patient. “Obviously there were a few mistakes that have been well noted, but as a team we are pretty confident with where we are going and we have just got to have a bit of patience and the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place,” supersub Nick Evans told 3 News. Fans have been patiently waiting for a performance that shows why the All Blacks are World Cup favourites. That should come if the patient approach means moments of brilliance don't end up waisted by a poor final pass. It was a problem too in Melbourne when the dropsies left the door open for the Wallabies. Competition for places remains extremely tight with the selectors expected to name their best line up.

“This is probably a big weekend for us with a couple of cups on the line and what better dress rehearsal for later in the year than this game coming up, so we'll be working hard and I'd say you will probably see the best 22 out there,” Evans said. The battle for halfback is an intriguing one with Brendan Leonard making a big impact off the bench in Christchurch. Although not everyone agrees his performance should earn him a place in the starting 15. “It is good that Brendan is performing and he is putting real pressure on for the number two role at the moment and I think that he is an intelligent young player and he is coming along nicely,” says Byron Kelleher, who is expected to be named as starting halfback tomorrow.

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Again : "Richie McMaw is not penalized enough"... "He shouldn't be the captain"....

After the Aussie "the referees don't respect him enough", now it's the Boks "the referees respect him too much".

OK, so let's be honest, people : if the referee doesn't do his job well, are you sure Richie is the one to be blamed? really? I don't think so!

The French commentators even thought that Mrs Dickinson had sewn her husband's red and yellow cards in his pocket (of course, they said that before the Bok got his yellow card!)

By the way : Mister Dickinson...again...after the match again France... Bernard Laporte (and le XV de France) will appreciate!!!

Richie is an easy target ; as long as the Southern Hemisphere referees won't do their job properly, there will be articles about "this player is protected" or "that player should have been penalized". I think the Southern referees do need "conditioning camps" with their Northern colleagues before the World Cup!!!

As for the match, the Boks did a really good match, but the All Blacks are always here to score when their opponents under pressure --sorry!